New US men’s soccer coach Mauricio Pochettino outlines his vision ahead of the next World Cup: ‘We need to think big’
By Glen Levy and Don Riddell, CNN
New York City (CNN) — New US men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday that his aim is nothing short of competing with – and beating – the best teams in the world.
Arguably the highest-profile hire in the history of US soccer, the former Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain manager told CNN Sport that he “can feel the potential of the team,” stating that the side “need to think big” to be capable of competing “with the best teams in the world and to have the possibility to win.”
Off the back of the sacking of Gregg Berhalter, who failed to advance the USA out of the group stage of the Copa America tournament held on home soil in June and July, there had been a protracted process to get the deal with Pochettino over the line.
Finally, the 52-year-old Argentine was announced this past Tuesday, just minutes before the men’s national team labored to an uninspiring 1-1 draw in a friendly match against New Zealand in Cincinnati. Pochettino’s new charges have now failed to win their past four matches, a fact surely not lost on a head coach universally known as Poch, even if he wasn’t watching from inside the stadium.
The opening goal on Tuesday was scored by Christian Pulisic (his 31st international strike placed him fifth on the USMNT all-time list), who is perhaps the lone world class player on the squad. The captain did not hold back in his frustration after the game.
“There’s a lot of things that need to change and just the mentality and the culture of the group,” the 25-year-old Pulisic said in his post-match interview. “I think we have the quality, but I know, hopefully, that that’s the first thing that he’s going to want to change.”
When Pulisic’s words were put to Pochettino, the new USMNT head coach was empathetic in his response, saying he understood the captain’s disappointment and that “he needs to feel happy.”
But as he explained to CNN World Sport’s Don Riddell after giving a news conference at CNN’s Hudson Yards location in New York, Pochettino believes that “the culture is there, the culture of the country is there. Everything has a very good mentality.”
If anything, his emphasis was on another word beginning with ‘C’: Compete.
“In the last two games, the team play but not compete,” Pochettino said. “That is the key: We need to compete better. We have very talented players, but they need to understand we need to compete better, in the way we want to play and to apply our ideas.”
The Argentine will officially take charge for the upcoming friendlies on October 12 in Austin against Panama, followed by an away game against bitter rivals Mexico three days later. But the end game for him and his staff, the players, and a public craving the same sort of success seen with the women’s national team, is in the biggest tournament in global soccer: Leading the team into the 2026 World Cup on home soil, in a five-week festival of football being co-hosted by Canada and Mexico.
“It’s massive, one of the biggest events in the world,” said Pochettino, who represented his country of Argentina as a player in the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. “To be involved is a dream come true … and of course we are so excited, not only to improve the team, and to arrive in the best condition, but also to be involved in an amazing event that is going to be the World Cup here.”
Despite the next tournament being hosted by the United States, Europe may well provide the key to glory.
Many of the USMNT’s most pivotal players – the likes of Pulisic, as well as Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Timothy Weah, Giovanni Reyna and Folarin Balogun – all play across the continent in the world’s most prestigious leagues. Indeed, this may well account for the new head coach telling CNN Sport that when it comes to his home base for this role, “we are going to be in between Europe and the USA.”
Pochettino himself has a highly impressive resume from his time in Europe. He began in the dugout with Espanyol in Spain’s La Liga before moving to the English Premier League, helping Southampton punch above their weight and then took Tottenham Hotspur to their first UEFA Champions League final, which Spurs lost to Liverpool in 2019.
While he didn’t reach the showpiece game with Paris Saint-Germain, his team of megastars (Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé) did land the Ligue 1 title, and multiple cups. Pochettino’s most recent stint back in the Premier League with Chelsea was brief, but European football was secured before Pochettino and the club parted ways.
The Chelsea factor has proved prescient. The recent hiring of U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes was a coup for the USWNT, as the Blues legend won no fewer than 16 trophies in her 12-year stint with the Chelsea’s women’s team. Hayes has already led her new side to Olympic glory, with the USWNT capturing gold at the recent Paris Olympics.
Pochettino is positively gushing in his praise of the USWNT program – a “huge inspiration for me” – and Hayes, with the two having known each other for some time, going so far as to describe Hayes as “the best coach in the world,” and that “for us (the USMNT) it’s a challenge to match them.”
While coming anywhere close to the U.S. women’s haul of four World Cups is unlikely to ever come to fruition for Pochettino and the men’s side, a deep run at the 2026 World Cup is going to be high on the agenda for everyone associated with US soccer.
But does the new hire read anything into being unveiled on Friday 13th, a date many people are superstitious about?
Lucky for some, with a big laugh and smile, the Argentine confirms that “I signed the contract a few days before, the presentation is today, but I signed before (September 10). For people that are superstitious, please, no problem!”
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